Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google on Monday blocked a push by European telecoms operators to get Big Tech to help fund network costs, saying it was a 10-year-old idea that was a disservice to consumers and that the firm was already investing millions in internet infrastructure.
The remarks by president of EMEA business & operations at Google, Matt Brittin, come as the European Commission said it would request feedback from the telecoms and tech industries on the matter in the coming months before submitting any legislative proposal.
Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Telefonica (TEF.MC), Orange (ORAN.PA), and other major operators have long protested about tech rivals freeriding on their networks, saying that they use a large part of internet traffic and should chip in financially.
The idea, proposed over 10 years ago, could disrupt Europe’s open internet access or net neutrality, Brittin said.
“Introducing a ‘sender pays’ principle is not a new idea, and would upend many of the principles of the open internet,” he said according to the text of a speech to be made at a conference coordinated by telecoms lobbying group ETNO.
“These arguments are similar to those we heard 10 or more years ago and we have not seen new data that changes the situation.”
It “could have a negative impact on consumers, especially at a time of price increases,” Brittin said, referencing a report by pan-European consumer group BEUC indicating such concerns.
He said Google, owner of YouTube, has played its part to make it more effective for telecoms providers by carrying traffic 99% of the way and putting in millions of euros to do so.
Buy Crypto NowBrittin added:
“In 2021, we invested over 23 billion euros in capital expenditure – much of which is infrastructure.”
These include six big data centres in Europe, 20 subsea cables worldwide, with five in Europe, and caches to preserve digital content within local networks in 20 locations in Europe.
